Experimental Hemorrhage: V. The Relationship Between Arterial Blood Pressure and Plasma Dilution in Acute Hemorrhage

In 1895 Starling 1 stated, "There are, however, certain facts which have been known to physiologists for the past 50 years and which, to my mind, prove conclusively the absorption by the blood vessels of the fluid in the connective tissue spaces. If an animal be bled to a certain amount, the remaining blood very shortly afterwards is found to be more dilute than before. It contains less hemoglobin and blood corpuscles and relatively more plasma. The plasma is also more dilute than before, showing that the increase in volume of blood chiefly consists of added water and salts, or at any rate, a fluid which contains less protein than the plasma." Adolph and Lepore 2 confirmed the occurrence of plasma dilution following acute hemorrhage and concluded it was primarily due to the fall in arterial pressure. Later Adolph, Gerbasi, and Lepore 3 bled animals rapidly (20 to 35 cc/kg